Tony Gwynn broke every mold.
A heavy guy with terrible knees, he was a base-stealing, batting title-winning Hall of Famer, and he died this week at 54. He’d spent the last four years fighting parotid cancer, and while his smokeless tobacco habit has been extensively eyeballed as the cause, there’s no definitive evidence linking the two.
Gwynn had none of the risk factors for parotid cancer — he hadn’t been exposed to radiation, asbestos, or rubber manufacturing, he wasn’t a miner, and he wasn’t elderly. Make no mistake — smokeless tobacco is absolutely linked to other oral cancers, pancreatic cancer, and a variety of horrible oral lesions even more disgusting than the tobacco itself.
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That's your parotid, and there's important stuff under there. (Source: docstock.com)
The parotid gland is the largest of the salivary glands and sits on either side of your face over the angle of your jaw. It makes saliva, plus enzymes that begin the breakdown of starches. The problem with the parotid is the number of very important, very complicated, very necessary structures that run through it. Among them, the external carotid artery and the facial nerve, which is responsible for facial expressions, taste and bossing several glands around. Given Gwynn’s history of surgery for several non-cancerous parotid growths, and radiation and surgery for his parotid cancer, it’s not hard to see the origin of his complications. He temporarily lost his smile, the ability to blink his right eye, and his sense of taste.
While less than 1 percent of cancers are in the salivary glands, three quarters of those cancers are in the parotid.
Smokeless tobacco seems to be on the way out of MLB, with a minor-league ban, fewer players partaking, and high-profile cases like Gwynn’s. While there may not be a scientific link between dip and parotid cancer, the fact remains that Gwynn did it and he got sick. He believed there was a link, and the fact that it’s linked to so many other horrific cancers should be enough to put it right next to cigarettes on the list of nasty crap that can kill you.
We’ll miss you, Mr. Padre.
Jo Innes is a real-life doctor and contributor for Sporting News. Follow her on Twitter @JoNana.